Some systems such as 10BaseT networks require dedicated network buses between a central server and each piece of equipment located on the network. Often, the network buses are routed external to the equipment, such as along or behind a floor, walls or ceiling, or through passageways within the equipment. This arrangement makes it difficult to set up, rearrange, add and remove equipment in the network.
Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary network 10 of devices 14(1)-14(7) arranged in a star topology is shown. In this example, each one of devices 14(1)-14(7) is coupled to a hub server 12 by conventional cables 16(1)-16(7). Devices 14(1)-14(7) are not location specific with respect to the hub server 12, and thus may be interchanged and moved depending on need. For example, device 14(1) maybe swapped with device 14(7). Conventional cables 16(1)-16(7) have varying lengths, however, making it difficult to relocate devices 14(1)-14(7). Moreover, in these types of systems conventional cables 16(1)-16(n) are often bundled together, and thus the greater number of devices 14(1)-14(7) there are, the greater the diameter of the bundled conventional cables 16(1)-16(7). This may make it difficult to access the conventional cables 16(1)-16(7) within the bundles, and may therefore make it inconvenient to service the devices 14(1)-14(7). Further, the reliability of exemplary network 10 may be substantially lowered due to the human interaction with the bundles during servicing. Efforts have been made to deal with the above-noted problems, such as employing 10Base2 or MIL-STD-1553 network buses to serially couple equipment. However, these attempts have not been completely successful since the network buses may not meet other system or network requirements.